Like a Summers day. Bootiful.
Day spent clearing pond, sheathing the camera cables in hosepipe and laying at the bottom of the pond. At five feet deep not an easy task, but job done now. Cables also fed under the decking to a connection point in the hide. Need the water to clear in the pond before I can do a final check on the underwater camera. Feeling pretty pleased right now.
Another very mild, dry but overcast day.
Day spent with Julie & Darren, Holly and Laura. After enjoying a brunch of soup and mincy pies it was time for the trip to Newbury and the Panto. Oh yes it was.
So pleased to see Darren enjoying himself so much and taking part in the usual Panto hysteria!!
It was another great panto, really in the Christmas mood now. Finished a good day out with a meal at the Mill in Thatcham.
Pond dipping tomorrow.
Very mild, overcast, dry day. Did have a shower early evening.
Most of the day spent in town Christmas shopping. With only a few cards to buy it was more of sightseeing trip.
A first for me, I sat for an hour listening to a busker playing saxophone outside the BHS store. I ended up purchasing a CD from him.
Jessops now have a store back in Reading opening only Monday. Clearly selling just top of the range cameras, hope the shop is a success however as town missing a good camera store that support Fuji.
Good to meet up with Nigel and Lyn tonight at the Steak House in the Oracle. Great meal, Doombar on offer and good company. A good end to the week.
Look forward now to Panto tomorrow.
Mild, some sun and dry. A good day with no rain. Garden still very muddy however.
After testing the underwater camera through the living room television it was time to connect to the hide monitor.
Pretty good picture but need to enter pond to remove weed so cables lay on the bottom of the pond. After a frustrating start to the week it has all turned out good.
Picture 1 - testing in the living room.
" 2 - Locating the camera over the pond ready to submerge.
" 3 - Ready to submerge.
" 4 - We have a picture, a fish is swimming towards the lens.
A very mild, overcast day but at least dry. Garden very mucky however after the recent rain.
More leaves collected this afternoon, these I have composted. Wish the Oak would start dropping leaves.
Almost there with the underwater camera/monitor. Should be operational tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
The exciting monitor news today is seeing a Mouse collecting food through the critter cam. Appeared at 16.45 so the hide this is where I will be every night now to watch progress. Just need activity in the Hedgehog home now then I will be happy.
Darned awful day. Rain all day, non stop. Very mild, not at all wintry.
Spent day in the workshop having a bit of a clear up. Hoping to get the car under cover this winter. Need to re-cycle loads of unwanted electrical stuff like the sewing machine and printer. All taking up valuable space.
Once again another day of high activity with Birds ion the garden. So many Goldfinches and Starlings. Jays also very busy chomping away at monkey nuts. Worked out I am using 43,680 monkey nuts per year on the Jays, Magpies, Woody and Tufty. An amazing number. Time to cut back I think? There are of course no acorns about this year.
Enjoyed another Christmas evening at Henry Street. Talks, displays and buffet surpassed previous years. So popular these events that they are now help for three evenings, remember when it was just one evening.
All photographs are of the Henry Street Christmas evening.
Woke to the first frost of the season but what a great day after two days of rain. Mild, sunny and dry. Garden pretty wet however after so much rain.
A further six bags of leaves collected from the back garden trees. The Oak and Bean Tree leaves have still to start falling so not finished yet.
Have now covered the greenhouse plants with fleece ready for any further frosty nights.
Excited about the critter cam, Missed taking a photograph but have worked out the Mouse appears between 4 & 6pm. Will be in the hide for sure tomorrow to capture the moment. Have also the trail cam set tonight for any moments the Mouse may leaver its home.
Jay, Woody, Magpie and Tufty all manic on the monkey nut feeder today. Goodness knows how many I got through today? Great day for other birds with the Wren, Goldfinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Sparrows, Green/Chaffinches, Blackbirds.......
Had to give the feeders a good clean today as were very mucky following the rain.
Picture 1 - Scandinavian Blackbird, were three ground feeding today.
" 2 - Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Not a good day on two fronts. Weather awful and underwater camera not compatible with the monitor.
Wet all day, no let up but strangely a brilliant sunset. Can't believe the temp' dropping to below freezing tonight.
Sadly underwater camera unable to be connected to the hide monitor. Connectors not compatible so a phone call to the supplier tomorrow. Hopefully it is just an adaptor that is required?
Picture 1 - Critter cam, home of a Mouse.
" 2 - Hedgehog cam. No sign of a Hedgehog yet.
" 3 - New monitor connected in the tree hide.
After early morning rain the rest of the day turned out dull, overcast but at least dry.
Day spent connecting the critter cam and hedgehog cam to the hide monitor. All ok now but was problematic. Had not appreciated the lenses could be saturated with condensation.
Can confirm there is a Mouse in the critter home but no sign of the Hedgehog.
Weather permitting tomorrow I will attempt connecting the underwater camera, with a remote control to master this will be fun to sort?
Late afternoon decided to have a break by sweeping up another six sacks of leaves from the front garden. Plenty of leaf mould this year.
Pictures of the Jay enjoying monkey nuts courtesy of Bushnell.
A miserable, overcast day but at least dry.
Enjoyed my morning at Lavers catching up with all the gossip and latest Laver news. Particularly pleased at seeing Donna who has returned to Lavers after a break of six years living in Wales.
Sparrowhawk appeared this afternoon on the Robinia Tree. Stayed for ten minutes before flying away without a catch.
Afternoon I connected up my latest monitor giving me the facility to program up to eight cameras. Over the weekend I hope to connect up three which will include the underwater camera in the pond. Exciting stuff.
Picture 1 - CH2 Ratty out for evening feed at 5pm (every night the same time) / CH4 Great Tit arrives to roost every night at 4.30pm.
Picture 2 - Sparrowhawk in the Robinia Tree.
" 3 - Latest monitor now connected in the Tree Hide.
Another dry, sunny and mild day.
With an upgrade to my monitor/camera system I have had to re-think the electrics in the hide. This I did today, with a trial switch on late this afternoon I am confident all will be fine...?
Monitor arrived this afternoon, what a bit of kit. Just need to understand the instructions now.
Good to see the male Great Spotted in the garden today. Not seen for some months. Foxy also appeared courtesy of the trail camera.
The trail camera also captured a family of Crows trying to share an egg.
A mild, dry day. Ideal conditions for sweeping up yet more leaves this morning.
This afternoon I fixed a shelf in the hide to take the camera monitor which should be arriving by the weekend. Getting excited about this development. Have invested in an 8 split screen monitor which will allow me to purchase two more cameras. Not sure what type yet.
Walking around the garden today I was amazed at the number of different fungi growing. The photographs were all taken this afternoon.
Great to see both the Great Tit and Ratty appear tonight.
Enjoyed an evening with Nick and Vonny. A great meal Vonny, many thanks.
A lovely Autumn day, mild with plenty of sun.
Strange happening this afternoon however with the brightest rainbow in bright sun mid afternoon.
Day spent sweeping up leaves in the back garden. Another 4 bags spread over the wildlife area. Also cut both the front and back lawns. Think there will be another cut yet before mower hibernates for 2014.
For the first time in two months the Great Tit did not appear tonight to roost. Bit sad actually.
After a wet start to the day thankfully conditions changed to give us a beautiful sunny, mild day. Was in London anyway.
What a great day in London, most of the day at the BBC to see behind the scenes on how television and radio programs are produced. Highlight was watching the news produced as news came into the studio. Biggest surprise was how small studios were especially the One Show studio. As a live show there are last minute preparations to deal with. Was interesting to watch the preparations albeit from outside the studio. Being glass walls there was no restrictions on what you could see. Was pretty privileged to sit on the celebrity dna covered sofa! A very interesting day.
Picture 1 - BBC - Portland Place.
" 2 - Live weather forecast.
" 3 - Live news studio.
" 4 - Pudsey Bike arriving for tonights filming.
" 5 - Me on the One Show sofa.
"6 & 7 - Tonights One Show live.
" 8 - BBC - Portland Place, London.
